


Arguing in Defence of My Humanity

by breadmakesyoufat



Category: Lunar Chronicles - Marissa Meyer
Genre: Angst and Romance, F/M, Friendship, Kiko - Freeform, Romance, whoops they fell in love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-24
Updated: 2020-11-10
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:48:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27170632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/breadmakesyoufat/pseuds/breadmakesyoufat
Summary: “I love when you’re confrontational” he whispers softly, and her eyes flutter slightly as she laughs softly in response.He leans in and gently kisses her, nothing more than a soft press of his lips against hers, but his heart feels full as her hands come up to rest on his chest, taking small handfuls of his shirt in her fists to pull him a little closer. To kiss him a little deeper.
Relationships: Iko/Liam Kinney
Comments: 4
Kudos: 20





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So I started writing this after binge reading all the main novels, then Stars Above, and then reading the first volume of Wires and Nerves. I was impatiently waiting for my library to get the second volume to me, and ended up starting this to sort of fill the void. At the end of the first Volume, as a refresher, Kinney and Iko are still on the rocks, and she had just kissed him during an argument, and he stormed off and that was the end of things. I started writing this after that point, but with a time jump.
> 
> Since then, I’ve read the second volume of the comic and now know that this story won’t blend well with the canon after the first volume, but can’t bring myself to do a whole bunch of rewriting and plot changing, Especially since this story is about them coming together and moving past their confrontational relationship, and ~falling in loooooove~
> 
> Enjoy. :)

“Kinney?”

Kinney turns his head slightly and catches sight of the young woman sitting beside him on the hill. She’s wearing a soft yellow sundress that reminds him of honey, and her copious amounts of blue hair is all tied up in an intricate knot on her head. And she’s smiling at him.

He slowly looks around himself, taking in the beautiful Spring day. The sun is high in the sky, birds singing softly in the distance. A gentle breeze ruffles Kinney’s hair, and he sighs, closing his eyes and enjoying the feel of it.

“Kinney?”

His attention is drawn back to the girl, and he thinks to himself, how beautiful she looks. She has a look on her face, like she’s a little annoyed that he wasn’t listening to whatever she had been saying, but her eyes are soft and he can tell that she isn’t as upset as she wants him to think she is.

“Sorry, what did you say?”

She huffs and gently smacks his knee before gesturing at the picnic basket on his other side. Only now does he notice they’re sitting on a blanket, as well. “I _said_ , aren’t you hungry? I packed this whole picnic for you and you haven’t even touched the basket yet!”

Kinney smiles, looking from the basket, back to the girl. “You packed me food?”

“Of course! What’s a picnic without food? The fact that I can’t eat any of it is besides the fact.” Her voice trails off and her eyes cast down slightly at this, and Kinney feels his heart pull towards her. Her eyes crinkle slightly and she looks up again to give him a wry smile. “I have it on good authority that humans tend to get cranky when they don’t eat, too, and you’re always cranky enough as it is!”

Kinney tips his head back and laughs, a little surprised at how much that tickled him, but letting himself react authentically. The girl smiles too, seeming to forget her disappointment at not requiring food to survive like he does.

He’s reaching for her before his mind has time to assess the action, and gently caresses her face in his hands. She blushes slightly at his touch, but leans into it like it’s the most natural thing. Like he does this all the time. Their eyes meet as his thumb smooths down her cheek, and he moves one hand down to her shoulder, pulling her closer to him.

“I love when you’re confrontational” he whispers softly, and her eyes flutter slightly as she laughs softly in response.

He leans in and gently kisses her, nothing more than a soft press of his lips against hers, but his heart feels full as her hands come up to rest on his chest, taking small handfuls of his shirt in her fists to pull him a little closer. To kiss him a little deeper.

“Kinney?”

Kinney smooths one of his hands around to cup the back of her neck, feeling the slight ridge of her control panel under his fingers, and tracing it with a pad, tenderly. She shivers under the touch and moves into him even further, the kiss becoming something a little less innocent and a little more insistent. He responds in kind.

“Stars above, Kinney, you sleep like a rock.”

The voice sounds familiar, but the girl’s mouth is so thoroughly occupied at the moment that Kinney can’t begin to fathom how she could be speaking, and doesn’t much care either.

_“Kinney!”_

* * *

Kinney comes to abruptly, yanked out of his dream so violently that it reminds him faintly of his first experience on the Rampion, strapped into a seat while Thorne attempted a landing, but feeling like he might as well have been loose change in a can for all the sense of security it gave him.

Looking up, he sees Iko staring down at him, an impatient look on her face.

Blinking blearily, Kinney sits up and rubs his eyes, trying to clear his head. He must have fallen asleep. He hadn’t meant to, but they’d had such a long day tracking down some of the few remaining Lunar wolf operatives that were hiding out in these tunnels, that he wasn’t surprised he’d needed the rest.

“What time is it?”

Iko had wandered to the other side of their makeshift camp and was rolling her sleeping bag up into a ball. “Nearly daybreak, so we should get going. I’m already concerned that the time we took to rest means they’re getting farther away from us”

“How can you even tell? It’s so dark in here.”

“Internal clock, duh. Honestly Kinney, sometimes I would think you’ve forgotten I’m an android, if you didn’t take every chance you get to remind me I’m _just a machine_.”

There was an edge to her voice that made Kinney wince slightly, but she wasn’t looking at him to see it. She seemed to be busying herself with packing up camp to avoid his eyes, and he couldn’t blame her.

They’d been on a handful of missions together at this point, trying to capture every single rogue Lunar operative left on Earth, and it has been gruelling. By their estimate, there were very few left on the run, and the ones that were left were the smartest, and sneakiest, because it was getting more and more difficult to locate and catch them. If Queen Selene wasn’t so concerned about them getting bold and finding their way back into a populated area, they probably would have opted to just leave these stragglers be. But the risks were too high, and while the Queen was still on the throne, Kinney would do whatever she asked of him.

And getting to spend time with the android actually made all the camping and sleeping in dark, cold caves seem worth it, if Kinney was being honest with himself. Which he tried not to be, as much as possible. That dream though…and the one from last night. And the night before that…This was getting away from him, and he wasn’t sure what to do about it.

“That’s fine, I actually wanted to pack up the entire camp all by myself, but thank you for offering to help.”

Her voice pulled him out of his head, and with a groan, he got up and dusted himself off. “No need to be rude, I’m just not fully awake yet.”

Iko snorted. “Right, yes, I forgot, humans need their beauty sleep. Meanwhile my battery is nearing half depletion and, Oh! Wait! You mean there _isn’t_ anywhere to recharge in this smelly, damp cave that we’ve been wandering around in for the last day and a half?”

Her voice was pitched up, and she had a hand over her forehead like the women in the dramas who were about to faint, and while Kinney didn’t openly respond to the bait, he chuckled at her theatrics on the inside.

“We shouldn’t be down here too much longer, and if worse comes to worse, we’ll head back up to the ship so you can _plug in_ and get your beauty sleep, okay _princess_?”

She huffed again, but less comically, and turned to put their small amount of rations back in the pack for their next stop, and Kinney felt his chest deflate slightly.

The more time he spends with her and gets to know her, the more adept he’s gotten at knowing when their gibes at one another were good natured, and when they were landing a little south of friendly. He isn’t sure exactly when he started noticing that sometimes she responded differently when he brought up her mechanical nature, when she stiffened up in the shoulders, or looked away to hide her face.

He also can’t recall when he started caring, or feeling guilty when he noticed her pull away from him. This acidic feeling would climb up his throat, much like it was right now, and his instinct was to try and make light of it and have her laugh it off or fight him back and defend herself, the way she used to. But more and more he was noticing, the fight just didn’t seem to be in her, and he couldn’t pinpoint exactly what had changed between them.

No, that wasn’t quite honest, was it?

The kiss.

His fingertips tingled at the memory, and he rubbed his hands on his pants before bending over and gathering up his sleeping bag to pack away.

It’s been months since Iko kissed him on the Rampion, thinking she had felt “romantic tension” between them during a fight, and acting on it. Kinney still remembers it vividly. It had barely been a kiss, more of a press of lips, and entirely one sided. At the time he’d been angry at her, and the kiss had caught him entirely off guard. He’d compared her to Levana for heaven’s sake! But he’d also called her beautiful.

Kinney stooped and gathered up his port screen and weapons, securing them to his belt with practiced efficiency. Iko was still keeping her distance, but Kinney could feel the tension rolling off of her. Which was insane, because she’s an android, and androids shouldn’t-

Who was he kidding? Iko was an android in body only, this Kinney was slowly coming to terms with. The way she acts, and the things she says, and how upset she gets every time he brings up her mechanical body or how she shouldn’t be feeling what she says she feels towards her friends…The way he was finding himself feeling about her.

That’s what scares him the most. Everything he thought he knew about androids and their limitations was falling away, and he was left feeling sort of lost. He knows it’s a defence mechanism, his near constant jabs at her, and the snide comments. But even those were getting less frequent, and he found he was only really doing it when he felt unstable in how his heart pounded around her, and how his eyes sought her out in a room full of people. He’d had crushes before, sure. But this felt different, and it felt like it was changing him, and he was nothing if not sure of himself, so this felt dangerous. Scary.

But looking at her now, as she stuffed more of their camp into a bag that looked entirely too small, grumbling to herself about the task, and more than likely, him, he felt his heart shift towards her in a way that he couldn’t deny. At least not to himself.

As much as these feelings scared him, he didn’t feel it was something he had to worry about. Iko had tried to kiss him once before, and it had gone badly for her. He had been cold, and cruel, and as ashamed as that made him now, it was for the best. Despite all the old prejudices that were getting worked out of him, and no matter how much his opinion of androids and their potential to be as real and as authentic as humans changed, she deserved better.

The more he got to know her, and the more he saw of her with her friends and found-family, the more he realized that Iko was sunshine. She was light, and joy, and she deserved everything this galaxy has to offer. She deserves to be with someone who would be overjoyed by their first kiss, and would celebrate her android body, and take her home to their family and show her off the way she should be showed off. Someone that isn’t scared of how other people would react, or be scared of growing old while she stays exactly the same.

And Kinney just…isn’t that person. He’d already burned too many bridges with her, and he was coming to realize that she deserved better than him. Not that she would even want him anymore.

“Are you almost done? We really should get moving.”

Her clipped tone snapped him out of his thoughts and he looked at her. Everything was put away, other than a small lantern she was holding in her hands. It glowed enough to light the space, but he was more focused on how it bounced off her face and made her skin shine, her eyes sparkling like stars. He must have been staring, because she looked away from him and shifted on her feet a little awkwardly before lowering the light and turning away.

“I’ll scout ahead a little. See if I can find some tracks or something.”

He watched her go, the light receding until he was left in the pitch dark. Alone.

He slowly reached down and activated his own lantern, then shouldered his bag and adjusted the straps.

It was for the best.


	2. Chapter 2

“Stupid Kinney and his stupid face…” Iko grumbled to herself as she inspected the ground around her, the walls, anything that could show a sign that wolf soldiers had moved through these tunnels. “His stupid…handsome…face.”

She stopped and sighed, rolling her head around to try and work out some of the tight wiring in her neck. She really needs to get Cinder to take a look at that next time she’s up on Luna. Whenever that would be. Seemed like forever since she saw her friend last, when really it had only been a few weeks. But these weeks had felt long, full of camping in uncomfortable conditions, wandering around in the dark, climbing mountains, and…Kinney.

Iko sighed again, louder this time, and slumped against the tunnel wall.

That man is so frustrating. And what is most frustrating, is that she’s letting him get to her! Her! Iko! She was supposed to be tough and self-assured and _better_ than this! Than _him_! And his crappy attitude.

But he got under her synthetic skin. She wasn’t sure when it started mattering to her what he thought of her. Lots of people don’t respect androids, or consider them to be real people. She’s dealt with patronizing shop clerks, and disrespectful civilians, and every insult about her ‘faulty’ personality chip under the sun, and while it bothered her, she was mostly able to shrug it off. She has wonderful friends who love her, a family of sorts, and she knows how lucky she is to have such a strong support group in her life. And she’s happy in her body! She loves her skin, and her hair, and how tough she feels when she beats the crap out of rogue soldiers. She’s _strong_! And _fierce_! And _beautiful_! And her life is _good_!

But deep down, in a subconscious area of her mind that she tries not to give a lot of power to, Iko knows that she’s not as happy as she could be. Being constantly disrespected and treated like an object by most strangers she meets…it wears on a person. And for some reason, Kinney specifically has been getting to her more than she used to let him before.

Her cheeks heat up as the kiss pops up in her mind, not for the first time since it had happened. Her stored memory of that moment was tactile and clear, and she shook her head, as if that would shake it right out one ear and she wouldn’t have to relive the mortification over and over again, whenever she was feeling particularly self-pitying.

His lips had been so soft, despite the frown he’d been wearing when she leaned in, and she remembered how her heart had swooped up into her throat when his hand came up to touch her shoulder. But it was to push her away, instead of pulling her closer, like she’d hoped he would. It had been less than a moment before it ended, and he accused her of trying to trick him, and said all those nasty things about how her feelings weren’t real, and stormed out.

Ever since that moment between them, when she opened herself up slightly, in hopes that maybe he was feeling an inkling of how she felt about him, only to be rejected cruelly…she’s been feeling less sure about herself. As much as she wants to hold onto the knowledge that she is a badass, and doesn’t need the approval of one _man_ to validate everything she knows about herself, well… It was true that his opinion alone isn’t causing her so much internal strife, but apparently at some point she had really started to care what he thinks of her, and him continuing to think she’s just a machine, a robot, nothing worth the time of day…validating all the stuff strangers say to her daily…

At some point, his opinion of her has started to really matter. And he’s tipped the scales. Don’t get her wrong, she isn’t just rolling over and letting him walk on her, but the fight is more one sided now. Instead of fighting back vehemently like she used to, she’s just staying quiet, knowing nothing she says is going to change his opinion anyways. Self-preservation is more her game now, and so far…well. Mixed reviews on how well _that_ is working out.

Only a few more operatives, and they could both go back to Luna, celebrate with Cinder, and then things would go back to how they were before. Limited contact with Kinney, more time with friends that value her, and Iko knew her spirits would bounce back with time.

“I’m sure Kinney will be happy to get away from me, too” she mumbled to herself, rolling her shoulders and pushing off from the wall.

Moments later she saw the light of Kinney’s lantern coming around a corner and merging with hers, and she schooled her expression into one of blank indifference. Just a few more operatives. She could do this.

* * *

They hadn’t been walking long when their path lead them to an open cavern. They’d been silent up until this point, Kinney thinking silence was the better option, lest he let slip something he was determined to keep to himself, and Iko hoping that if she didn’t start a conversation with him, it wouldn’t degrade into a spat, or him reminding her that her body is made of wires and parts. It was tense, and awkward, but both of them are so stubborn that neither one was going to be the one to break the uneasy silence.

They both ended up breaking the silence with a small gasp when their eyes took in the sight before them.

“Is this…a camp?” Iko whispered, looking at the dilapidated tents and torn fabrics held up with sticks and spears. Their lanterns weren’t strong enough to illuminate the entire open space, but from what they could see, someone had tried to make a shelter on the far side of the room.

Kinney looked around quickly, trying to assess if anyone was still at home, but Iko started walking towards the nearest tent without much hesitation, and he was forced to follow, slowly pulling his gun from its holster.

It didn’t take them long to see that no one was still living here, and hadn’t been for a while. Kinney sighed and re-holstered his gun, while Iko riffled through some papers on a makeshift table.

“There has to be _something_ here that’ll tell us where they went!” She muttered to herself, squinting at an old newspaper before letting it drop to the floor.

“No one has been here for at least a week” Kinney responded, looking towards some very stale bread ends in a bowl next to her searching hands. “We should look for some tracks, or another tunnel they may have left from.”

Iko ignored him and kept working through the pile of papers, desperate for a set of notes, or maps, or anything to give them some direction in their hunt. Mindlessly following tracks and rumours hasn’t been working, and most of their searching has lead to naught. Which was really starting to piss her off, and wear on her patience.

The last paper on the table fell to the floor with a frustrated groan, and Iko turned abruptly to lean against it, massaging her temples in circular motions. Kinney watched her openly, and she could feel his eyes on the back of her neck.

“Would you stop staring, please? It isn’t helping,”

Kinney started and looked away quickly, rubbing the back of his own neck and wandering further into the tent. Iko rolled her eyes and looked dejectedly down at the scattered papers she’d dropped to the floor. This wasn’t going as smoothly as she’d hoped it would in the briefing to plan this mission, back on Luna. Maybe they were going about this all wrong? She wished Cress wasn’t off on vacation with Throne, or she would comm them and see if maybe their hacker could-

A small startled noise came from the direction Kinney had gone in, followed by a shout and dull thump, startling Iko to her feet. “Kinney?!”

More grunting and scuffling followed as she hurried towards his lantern light, only to see it roll by her feet. A gunshot rang out and Iko’s heart lurched, drawing her tranquilizer gun from her side. “Kinney! Where are you?!”

“Iko! Wait, he has my-”

She threw aside a piece of tattered cloth hanging from the top of a less run down part of the tent shanty town and finally laid eyes on Kinney. He was on the ground, a hand pressed to his side, and the other gesturing frantically to somewhere beside her as he yelled his warning, eyes wide. The shot rang out a moment later, and Iko didn’t hesitate before whipping around and landing a kick on the assailant’s outstretched arm. Kinney’s gun went flying, and the man - the wolf-man, yowled as she spun down and knocked his legs out from under him faster than he could anticipate.

A tranquilizer dart to his chest, and he was out like a light.

Iko panted, her retina display showing elevated energy losses, before she stumbled back down to a knee, her vision sliding off to the right slightly.

A hand came down on her shoulder, and she reacted instinctively, grabbing it and twisting the wrist hard enough to incapacitate, but Kinney’s groan made her blink and let him go. “Sorry, I thought there were more of them…” she trailed off, looking up at him.

His brow was sweaty, and he was still holding his side firmly, his shirt torn and bloody. Her vision cleared, but her display was still showing battery drainage at an accelerated rate, which confused her, but she couldn’t seem to focus on it, because Kinney. Kinney is bleeding.

“Oh my stars, Kinney! You’re bleeding!”

“Yes thank you, I noticed” Kinney groaned again and sank to his knees beside her, using his free hand to push aside her ripped pant leg, exposing some serious damage to her right leg. “You’re not looking too great yourself.”

“He must have shot me before I got to him.” Iko reached down and tore the pant leg further, getting a proper look at the damage. Diagnostics immediately began to run over her vision, alerting her to debilitating damage to the wiring that allows her knee to bend and support her weight properly. Also there seemed to be a fluid leak somewhere, that her body was trying to compensate for by pushing more reserve power into the affected area. She promptly shut that program down, and let the leg disconnect from the rest of her system, saving what battery life she had left.

Kinney was watching her, and when she looked back up at him they made eye contact, but he didn’t look away for once. If seeing the inside of her leg was making him uncomfortable, he was doing a terrific job hiding it, and honestly, she was grateful for that. She didn’t really like the stark reminder that her body wasn’t organic, and seeing the wires and oddly coloured fluids was the fastest way to destroying her illusion.

“How’s your leg?” He said quietly, studying her with a frown on his face. A deeper frown than usual, that is. His side must be painful.

“It’s shot. Literally.” Kinney’s frown turned wry. “Bad joke, sorry I couldn’t help it. Some of my necessary components for proper function are torn, and the bullet punctured some vital fluid lines in my thigh. My system was pulling reserve power to try and compensate, but I don’t have the power to spare, so I had to shut it down and divert power back to….I’m rambling, sorry. Basically, my leg is dead weight from the mid-thigh down, and I won’t be able to walk on it until we get back to the ship and I can patch it long enough to get to a mechanic. Preferably Cinder because she really is the best. Oh, and my battery is now down to 20.35%, so sooner rather than later would be best.”

Kinney just looked at her for another few seconds before it all seemed to sink in and his frown deepened even further, which Iko was honestly surprised it could. “This is my fault, I should have been on guard. He came out of a pile of sheets and grabbed my gun right off my belt and I didn’t even know what was happening until he’d shot me and-“

“Kinney, he surprised both of us. I did a scan of this whole area and somehow missed him too.” Her gaze dropped to his side and she reached out as if to take his hand from his wound, but stopped just before touching him. “Can I see it?”

Kinney sighed and moved his hand, and Iko sucked in a breath. So much blood. Stars if humans weren’t the most delicate creatures in the universe. She gently peeled his ruined uniform back and saw that it hadn’t been a direct hit, but a little more serious than a graze. The bullet had passed through, but not hit anything minor, thank the stars.

“You should be okay, if we can just stop the bleeding. Let’s try and find something to bind your wound with, and then find the quickest way back to the ship. This mission is a bust until we get looked at by doctors. Well, doctor and mechanic, you know what I mean.” She trailed off, looking around the room, then moving to get up before realizing her right leg wasn’t responding to her movements. “Right. Useless leg.”

Kinney pressed his hand back into his side, and used her shoulder to boost himself back up to his feet. “Stay put, I’ll find something, but I’ll need help tying it tight enough to help any.”

He stepped over the sleeping agent, and wandered over to a shelf that seemed to have some less dingy fabric folded on it, and Iko’s gaze strayed to the wolf. Opening up her comm link, she immediately noticed the lack of connection. They must be too far out of range in these tunnels to send out a message. So much for calling for a recovery team.

Quickly taking note of their location on her internal map, she found some cord nearby and began to tie the operative’s hands behind his back, and his legs together as well, before attaching all of it to a nearby table. It wasn’t the most secure, and he would probably get out of it if given enough time, but the tranquilizer should last hours, and by then hopefully she’ll have gotten to a spot to send a retrieval message to the local authorities.

Kinney wandered back over and surveyed her work, nodding in approval. “Have you sent the retrieval comm yet?”

“Can’t, we’re way out of range down here. But I’ve noted our location so I can send it as soon as I get a signal”

“Too bad, we probably could have used a comm to get us out of here too.” He kneeled down in front of her with his wounded side facing her, and handed over a bundle of cloth he found. “It’s the cleanest I could find, but I’m still not confident this won’t give me an infection.”

Iko took the cloth from him and grimaced. “We’ll get you looked at as soon as we can, but this should hold long enough to get to the ship.” Reaching over, she gently pulled his ruined uniform back over the wound as a protective layer, then pressed a lump of the cloth into his side firmly. Kinney hissed, and she took his hand and placed it back over the lump “Hold this while I wrap it. And tell me if it makes it too hard to breathe.”

Kinney nodded, and she leaned into him to get the long cloth strip around his torso. The top of her head was right under his chin, and Kinney found himself discreetly breathing in deeply. Her hair smelled of lavender, and…honey? His face heated slightly, the scent bringing back his dream from earlier that day, and he shifted uncomfortably as her arms circled his torso again, wrapping the cloth numerous times before knotting it securely at his back.

“How’s that?” She asked, leaning away from him. He let out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding as she leaned back, and he dared to look at her. She was frowning slightly at him, her mouth turned down and her eyes studying his face.

“That’s fine, thank you.” His voice came out a little strangled, despite his best efforts to sound unaffected, and her frown deepened at his tone.

“Great.” Her tone was clipped, and she looked away from him like he’d just insulted her while she struggled to her feet, but Kinney didn’t understand why she was- “We should get moving. It’s going to make things infinitely more difficult if my battery runs out before we get back to the ship.”

Kinney looked up at her for a few long moments, not knowing why her mood towards him had suddenly soured, but not sure if he should ask her about it, or just let it go. Her impatient look down at him made him opt for the latter, and he got to his feet, positioning himself on her right side.

“Put your arm over my shoulder and I can help you walk.”

She gave him a look. “I can walk on my own.”

Kinney looked pointedly down at her dangling leg, and then back up at her. “Okay, fine. Can you put your arm over my shoulder and help _me_ walk? My side it putting me off balance.”

Iko looked about ready to fight him on it, because obviously that wasn’t the truth, but she huffed and did as he asked, secretly relieved she didn’t have to struggle to keep her balance while dragging her limp leg all the way back to the ship.

The fact that her heart sped up a little bit as they started walking back towards the tunnels they came in from was entirely due to the strain on her systems, carrying the dead weight of her leg. Not because his arm around her back, and his hand firmly holding her side felt…reassuring. Right. No, it was entirely from the strain. Of course it was.

It had to be. From how he’d reacted to her getting close to him wrap his wound, holding his breath until she’d moved away and then sighing as if it was a relief to get her away from him? She was surprised he’d offered to help her walk at all, with how close he had to hold her. Must be torture for him.

She had no idea how right she was. Because Kinney’s heart was beating hard too, and it wasn’t due to the physical strain. But because his world was all lavender and honey right now, and it was taking everything in him not to turn his head and press a soft kiss to her temple.


	3. Chapter 3

The trek back up to daylight, fresh air, and a soft bed seemed endless. The longer they walked, having to go slow to avoid tripping on Iko’s limp leg, the heavier they both seemed to feel. They’d long ago abandoned their packs, their journey hard enough without the added weight of sleeping bags and provisions for Kinney. Iko’s arm was becoming painful on Kinney’s shoulders, and he was actively trying not to dig his hand into her side too hard, even though he wasn’t sure if she felt pain in the same way he did. Better not to risk it.

She was breathing heavier than he’d ever seen her breathe, and it was starting to worry him. Androids don’t even need air, as far as he knew. What would cause her artificial body to react in a way that in no way helped her systems perform better? He wanted to ask her, out of curiosity, but also concern, but knew she would immediately get defensive and mad, and think he was trying to attack her over it. He’d stopped brining up her android-ness as attacks since the kiss, but he found that the more comfortable he got around her, and around the idea that she was special, and wasn’t like other androids, the more he genuinely wanted to understand her.

Too bad he had set a strong precedent as a jerk who enjoyed tormenting her with her own lack of mortality in the past.

They still had a ways to go before they reached their ship, and he was about to contemplate a break out loud (for his sake, of course) when Iko’s arm suddenly slipped from his shoulders and she collapsed to the ground in a heap. Kinney immediately crouched down and rolled her over and pushed her hair from her face. Her eyes were glassy and unfocused, her jaw lax, and his heart lurched at the sight.

“Iko? Iko, can you hear me?!”

She was deathly still for another long moment before she twitched once, and her eyes refocused on his face as he leaned over her. She closed her eyes briefly and took a deep breath (again, making him wonder if it actually helped her at all), and slowly opened them again.

“Iko?”

“Yes, I’m okay, I just-” She groaned and sat up, forcing Kinney to back up and give her some space. “My battery is getting dangerously low, so my body went into power saving mode. I had to override some of the programs to get basic functions back.” She looked down at his uniform, then shifting her gaze down to her hair. “I’ve never experienced this before, it’s…unsettling. Everything is in black and white, like the really old net dramas, and none of my retina displays are on except my battery warning.”

Kinney listened silently, watching her face for any sign that she might shut down again. “How much battery do you have left?”

“6.87%. It should last a little longer, now that I’m down to basic functions, but I’m still concerned we won’t make it to the ship before it reaches zero. You don’t want to know how much heavier my body is without power running through it.” Her voice was small by the last few words, and she looked concerned.

When she wouldn’t meet his eyes, Kinney sighed and stood back up, offering her his hand. “Well, I guess we do our best and hope that’s good enough. Can you maybe warn me next time, before you collapse?”

Iko batted his hand away and stood up on her own, albeit not as smoothly as she would have liked. “Oh, I’m sorry, I should have thought of that. I might have landed on your foot and broken your toes or something with my colossally heavy android body. I should be more considerate.”

Kinney huffed and patted dust off his sleeve. “I didn’t-…I just meant, you…scared me. I thought something was seriously wrong.”

“Something IS seriously wrong, Kinney!” Iko yelled, throwing her hands up in sudden exasperation and then gesturing down at her body. “Do you have any idea how…how _frustrating_ this is?! Having a body that sometimes makes decisions for you based on programming you didn’t even know was there! Subroutines that decide I would be better off passed out on the ground than walking around at less than full capabilities? When you’re just starting to forget that you’re a machine, and feel more at home in your skin, and then some _asshole_ shoots you and makes all these brightly coloured fluids come out of you when you think it should be blood? It’s jarring as hell! And then _you_!” She pokes him in the chest roughly a few times, causing him to wince and back up a step. “Every chance you get, you bring up how I’m not human, or how my emotions aren’t real, or how I’m _deceiving_ everyone in order to…what?! What would be my end goal with that, anyways, I’ve been meaning to ask you! Am I going to make people love me and then poke out their eyes in their sleep with my scary android fingers? Or something else equally ridiculous? Seriously Kinney, enlighten me, because I’m not even sure what my diabolical goal is anymore!”

She was breathing hard again, and her face was flushed to the point of tomato red, but Kinney was too stunned to respond. They just stared at each other for a few long moments, her gaze heated, his lost and shocked, before she let out a frustrated sigh and reached up to smooth down her hair and tuck some pieces back into her hair tie.

“Whatever, lets just…lets just get out of here and then we can go back to base and we can get away from each other again.”

Kinney winced at that last bit and opened his mouth to protest, but she shot him a look that made him close his mouth silently. He didn’t move until he realized she was waiting for him to help her walk again, and very gently got close enough to her to offer up his shoulders, and she put her arm over him again, her hand twitching on his shoulder slightly when his hand came up to support her back.

They walked in silence for a few minutes, Iko’s breathing slowly returning to normal, and Kinney replaying everything she’d said during her outburst, his brow furrowed.

“You’re not…I never thought…”

Iko turned her head slightly, barely picking up his words with her inner-ear noise receptors on power-saving mode as well.

“I never thought you were _dangerous_.” Kinney huffed a small laugh, and adjusted his hand on her side. “I mean, you are dangerous. I’ve seen you in action too many times to ever want to be on the receiving end of your fists or kicks. I just mean…I never thought you intended to hurt your friends, or our Queen. I can see that you love them, and you’ve saved all of them more times than I can count.”

His voice was still low enough that she could barely pick it up, but she found herself hanging on his every word.

“I just…didn’t understand, I think. I’ve never met or spent any real time with another android, so I didn’t realize how…different you are. And it was jarring for me. I was taught growing up on Luna, and working in the palace especially, that androids were a liability. They couldn’t be controlled or tricked with the gift, so lunars are generally taught that they’re…bad. Not to be trusted. So when I met you, and you seemed so human and so authentic, and your emotions were as strong as any humans I’ve ever met, it was…it took me a long time to disconnect from what I was taught, and believe what I was seeing when I look at you.”

His voice was getting softer, and it wasn’t until she let her eyes blur his image to focus on the battery warning at the top of her vision did she know it wasn’t his voice that was softening to a near whisper, but her system’s ability to pick it up.

“Kin…Kinney, I’m going to-”

She didn’t even get the warning out before her battery entirely drained and the world went dark.


	4. Chapter 4

Iko wakes up thoroughly disoriented. Much like unplugging a computer without first telling it to shut down, having her battery drain entirely was not a pleasant experience, and she decided right away that she never wants to feel like this ever again.

“Stars, is this what a hangover feels like? No wonder humans complain about them so much.” She grumbles to herself, sitting up and feeling a blanket fall from her shoulders and pool in her lap. “Hmm?”

She took a moment to look around, even more disoriented. She wasn’t laying in a pile on the ground, like she’d expected she would be, in the moment she realized she was powering down completely. She wasn’t even outside. She was in her quarters on their ship, laying in her bed. She was still in her uniform, but she quickly noted that her shoes were off, and she had been tucked in.

She reached back and felt the power cable connected to the back of her neck, and noticed her battery level display was back up to 64.58%. Not fully charged yet, but she must have been plugged in for a while to recover from a full-system shut down and already be back up over half charge.

She was still gathering her thoughts when the door to her quarters slid open, and Kinney walked through. His eyes glanced over to her and his confident steps faltered, coming to a stop just inside her room.

“Iko! I didn’t mean to barge in. I just didn’t think you’d be awake yet.”

She just looked at him, her eyes traveling over his body once, noting his clean hair and clothing, before meeting his eyes again.

“Did you…get me back here? I don’t remember…”

“Oh.” Kinney sighed, and lifted a hand to scratch the back of his head. “Right, yes, you lost power in the tunnels. Thankfully we were close to the exit, so I was able to carry you back to the ship. We’re back in orbit now.”

His raised arm caused his shirt to rise slightly, and Iko saw that he had fresh bandages wrapped around his stomach, and the patch over his wounded side was spotted with blood.

“Oh, Kinney!” She went to get up, but remembered she was still plugged in, and settled with swinging her legs off the bed so she was sitting up with her feet resting on the ground. “Your bullet wound!”

“Oh, I’m okay” he said quickly, pulling his shirt back down quickly. “It started bleeding again, when I was getting us back to the ship, but I’ve run a check for infections and I cleaned it up, so I’m fine until we can get to a proper medical centre. Really.”

He added the last word when her expression didn’t relax, and Iko shook her head slightly. “If you hadn’t carried me all the way back here, you wouldn’t have hurt yourself again. You should have left me and-”

“Iko, no.” Kinney shook his head, taking a few more steps into the room, towards her. She noticed vaguely that his feet were bare as well, and she noted that she’d never even seen him out of his uniform before. “It wasn’t like I really had a choice. I wasn’t going to leave you laying there for who knows how long until I could get back to you.”

“But why? That does not compute! I’m just an android, why would you…I can always be repaired, but you’re…humans are so fragile! You could have bled out!”

Kinney sighed and kneeled in front of her knees. “Iko. It didn’t even occur to me that I could just leave you down there. That never even crossed my mind when you collapsed again. You’re my…we’re…” He sighed, frustrated, and put his hand behind his neck again and looked away from her face.

“We’re what? Friends?” Her voice brought his eyes back to meet hers, and his breath caught at the quiet anger in her expression. Or was it frustration? Hurt? He couldn’t decipher it, but she looked unsettled. “Friends don’t constantly fight, Kinney. Friends don’t point out each other’s flaws mercilessly. Friends believe each other, and support each other, and you don’t even think I _could_ be friends with anyone, because of what I am.”

Kinney winced. “Iko, would you stop trying to fight me every time I-“

“You’re the one who fights with me! Constantly has to remind me that I’m not human! _I know!_ You think I’m not painfully aware that I’m a machine? That my body will never be what I want it to be? I don’t want…I just wish…I _feel_ like I’m human, Kinney. Truly, I do. But I’m not, and if I stop long enough to think about it with any amount of detail, it _breaks my heart.”_

Kinney is taken aback, and looks ashamed. Iko’s face is bright red, but from anger, and pain. Her voice cracked, at the end, and from the look on her face, Kinney is positive she would be crying, if her eyes allowed for it.

Before he could find the right words to soothe her pain, or try to explain himself, whether that would even help at this point, he didn’t know, Iko rubbed her temples with her fingertips, and shifted her gaze to her bare feet.

“I don’t expect you to understand. Or for any of this to change how you see me. I’m just so tired, of all of it. And I seem to be oversharing today. Must be the stress adding up, I don’t know.” She let out a deep breath, and her face composed itself into something like indifference. “Thank you for not abandoning me in those caves. But please just leave me alone to charge.”

Kinney tried to catch her eyes, looking up at her from his kneeling position in front of her bed, but when she wouldn’t meet his gaze for a few long moments, he rose to his feet and turned to leave without a word.

He hesitated before opening her door, dejected and feeling like shit over what she’d admitted to him just now. He knew he’d really messed things up with her, ever since the moment they met in that mining sector on Luna, when he found her defending Princess Winter. The hateful things he’d said about her, openly, made him cringe, now that he knew better. Now that he’d spent time with her, and her friends, and let himself relax enough around her that…he’d started to understand why people like her so much. Among other things.

Hands clenching at his sides, Kinney turns and comes back to her. Iko opens her mouth to tell him to leave, but she sees something in his eyes that makes her heart beat a little faster, the diagnostic monitor she’s still hooked up to beeping a little quicker. She quickly mutes it.

“Can I just…before I leave you to rest for the night, can I just try and fix some of this? I don’t want to leave things to fester more than they already have. I was trying to explain myself in the cavern, but I think I did a shit job of it and you passed out before I could get to my point.”

Iko didn’t respond at all, but she did look up, giving him hesitant permission with her eyes.

“I was wrong. About you.” Kinney found himself wringing his hands nervously, knowing this might be his last chance to make things right between them before she gave up on him forever. “And I wasn’t just wrong, quietly in my own head. I was vocal, and an asshole about it, and I regret it every day now that I know better. I have a lot of old prejudices that were trained into me, and it’s taken me longer than it should have to see that I’ve been hurting you with my ignorance. My sister always tells me I’m thick-headed, but I’ve never been so wrong as I was about you. And I’ve been trying to be nicer to you to make up for it, but I feel like you hate me, and honestly I don’t blame you. I deserve it.”

Iko is still silent, but her eyes are wide.

“So just for the record, I’m not disgusted by you, or anything awful like that. When I bring up your android eyes, or ask about specific things or comment on stuff like, how you don’t need to eat, or breathe…do you need to breathe, by the way? I’ve been wondering about that a lot lately with-”

Her face went from open to closed off in a moment, and he put his hands up in defence. “I’m doing it again, sorry. I meant to say, the only reason I bring up that stuff, is because…I’m curious. You kind of…fascinate me. And I don’t know a lot about androids, and I just…” he trailed off, seeing her eyes soften slightly. “I just want to know more about you.”

Iko still couldn’t quite find her voice, and Kinney was sure her expression couldn’t get any more stunned. Her lips parted slightly as if to speak, and his eyes darted down to them reflexively, then back up to meet her eyes. Wondering what she was thinking. Was he blowing this entirely? Was it too late?

Stars she is beautiful.

His eyes had trained on her lips for just an instant, but Iko’s sensors had caught the movement, and her chest squeezed painfully in response. It was too quick, she probably didn’t really see that. She doesn’t lean in, despite wanting to. Everything he was saying was explaining so much. He didn’t find her repulsive? He was just…he just wanted to get to know her? This was…a lot to process, and her processor still seemed to be recovering from the full body shut down because she was having problems keeping up with this conversation.

And then her memory pulled up the unfortunate incident last time she’d thought she was feeling romantic tension between them, and acted on it, and how wrong she had been. How badly that had gone for her fragile feelings when it came to this man. This man, who seemed to be bearing his soul to her. She’d honestly never heard so many words from him at once, since she met him. It was…refreshing. She’d always liked his voice, and all these pretty words were…well. ‘Too good to be true’ came to mind, but she couldn’t help but feel her heart go out to him.

She came out of her own thoughts when he kneeled back down in front of her, where he had been before she’d told him to leave. He hesitantly reached for one of her hands, and when she didn’t pull away, took it in his and ran his thumb over her knuckles, smoothing out a spot where her synthetic skin had torn during their scuffle with the wolf operative.

“You’re beautiful, Iko. Truly. And I’m so sorry that I was so awful to you before, it was just…self-preservation, or something like it. You kind of scare me, since I’m being so honest.” The last bit was barely a whisper, and his eyes had trailed up to her hair when he said it, as if it was too hard to admit it to her eyes, which she was keeping trained on his face intently, trying to absorb all this information so she could pick it apart and make sure she hadn’t dreamed it before waking up.

Still holding her hand gently, Kinney brought his other hand up and slowly brought his palm to rest on the side of her neck, his fingertips brushing the cable connected to the back of her neck, but he doesn’t wince or pull away in disgust like she still worried he might, despite everything. His skin feels so warm, his palm calloused from battle and labour, and she found herself leaning into the touch without a second thought.

Their eyes met, and they both smiled at each other at the same moment, Iko bringing a hand up to cover his on her neck and leaning into it. His eyes dropped to her lips again, but this time he didn’t try to hide it, and Iko found herself leaning in ever so slightly, but deciding he had to be the one to meet her halfway this time. This still barely felt real to her, and she was scared she was going to wake up from a depleted battery fever dream at any second.

Kinney’s breath is shallow as he leans in slightly too, looking for any sign of resistance and watching her eyes flutter closed, seeing none. His heart in his throat, Kinney let himself take a moment to appreciate how well this had gone. He’d finally gotten to say his piece, and clear the air, and while she hadn’t responded with words, she had listened, and her body was telling him that she forgave him. Forgave him, but also…

Just as he was about to close the distance and kiss her, the way he’d wanted to ever since their disastrous first kiss (that he honestly couldn’t regret, because it had opened his eyes in so many ways), the universe decided to throw a curveball:

“Incoming Communication from from Her Royal Majesty, Queen Selene of Luna”

Iko startled away from him, her wide eyes shooting towards the ceiling where the intercom was located. Kinney pulled away as well, just as startled by the sudden interruption. Blinking a few times as the ship repeated the notification, he looked up at Iko. She wouldn’t meet his gaze, and her eyes were wide and looking unsure and confused.

His heart drops, looking at her like this. Had he been wrong? She didn’t look…oh stars, he’d made a mistake. He let himself get caught up in the moment, and he nearly forced himself on her. Scrunching up his face in pain, he quickly turned away from her so she wouldn’t have to look at him.

“I’m…sorry, you’re still recovering and I shouldn’t be…you just rest. I’ll go report in. Cinder must be worried about us since we missed check in last night.”

Without looking back at her, Kinney left her quarters and quickly as he could without seeming panicked, and Iko just stared at his back as he left, her hands shaking slightly.

What in the stars had that been?

Once she knew for certain he wasn’t going to come back, Iko pulled her legs back up onto the bed and laid down on her side, turning so her power connection to her neck wasn’t pinched under her, and let her mind’s eye replay what had just happened. Everything that he said to her. Just to…be sure it had really happened.

Oh _stars_.


End file.
